KHOPOTSO: Sontaga Steyn Mathekga is a giant with a gentle soul. This teacher at Merakgoma Primary School in Gawale village doesn’€™t know the exact extent of the AIDS epidemic on his community. But his humble observation informs him that it certainly is a big problem that needs decisive action.

SONTAGA MATHEKGA: It’€™s a big problem’€¦ Somewhere, somehow, we’€™ve got to face it. I don’€™t know how.

KHOPOTSO: One can’€™t help but feel the exasperation that overwhelms Mathekga ‘€“ a feeling worsened by the AIDS-stigma prevalent in most South African communities.

SONTAGA MATHEKGA: Most of the people are afraid to come out’€¦ It’€™s still treated like it’€™s a taboo. People don’€™t want to talk about HIV and AIDS.        

KHOPOTSO: Mathekga grew up and lived in Gawale all his life. He remembers times when life was still abundant – a week would go by without a single death. But lately, three burials every week is something the villagers are getting used to. And it’€™s young people who die, leaving the elders behind, he says. Schools cannot escape the effect. Orphans and sick learners abound.

SONTAGA MATHEKGA: People don’€™t come out’€¦ There are cases where we suspect that the learner might be suffering from HIV’€¦ But you cannot start the issue with their families because it’€™s like it’€™s a taboo’€¦ It’€™s like you are degrading them.        

KHOPOTSO: Dindinnie Farm School is in the village of Calais and offers primary education. Under the scorching sun in Tzaneen, you drive until you get drowsy. The principal there is Moshome Reuben Rabothata. He swears that he knows no one infected or affected by AIDS in the community nor his school. On the other hand, he reveals that the school receives kids, most of whom are orphans, from a nearby crèche for their first year of school.                        

MOSHOME RABOTHATA: It has a lot of orphaned children. When they complete the crèche or the Grade R there, then they come and attend school here. We have many children who are from that side.

KHOPOTSO: The crèche, a project of the Catholic Diocese of Tzaneen, is called Holy Family. It cares for children with special needs, including the HIV-infected as well as those orphaned due to AIDS.

On the other side of Calais village, almost an hour’€™s drive, you find Thapola a Nkona Primary School. There are over 600 learners and only 15 educators to go around. Matome Phillip Lebepe is the deputy head. It is with incredulity when he speaks of the impact that   AIDS has had in the area.

MATOME LEBEPE: Whoo! You see, though you cannot tell to say ‘€œthis might be the cause’€, but around 2002-2003, hell, it was chaos by then, man because we lost a lot of people by then’€¦ not knowing what was the cause. But at least, for now, seemingly, people are now aware of what is happening a bit.

KHOPOTSO: The long-term effects of children becoming orphaned still remain, though. Many learners at Thapola a Nkona have lost one parent and others both, leaving children to take care of themselves and their younger siblings.

MATOME LEBEPE: Ja, ja. We do have such cases because some usually come here and say, ‘€œrenew these forms for me’€ so that they can get the grant. You know when they get the grant ‘€“ that one of around R570, they are orphans. That problem is there.

KHOPOTSO: But Lebepe says the cause of the parents’€™ deaths still remains a mystery.

MATOME LEBEPE: You cannot say people died because of HIV/AIDS. People don’€™t disclose that. They will keep on saying, ‘€œhe’€™s been bewitched or was sick from whatever disease’€’€¦

KHOPOTSO: The secrecy and stigma permeates every South African community like AIDS itself. The pronounced impact that the epidemic is evidently having on schools means that the work of a teacher is increasingly becoming even more demanding as they also need to be counsellors, care-givers and foster parents, among other roles.